Low-water alarm



(Nd Modell) H. SIMS.

LOW WATER ALARM.

- No. 417,517. Patented Dec. 17,1889.

Winesses. Inventor.

Henw S'zms may I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

HENRY suns, 0F ERIE, PENNSYLVANIA.

LOW-WATER ALARM.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 417,517, dated December17, 1889.

Application filed February 16, 1889. Serial No. 300,199. (No model.)

To all whom it mayconccrn:

Be it known that I, HENRY SIMS, a citizen of the United States, residingat Erie, in the county of Erie andState of Pennsylvania, have inventedcertain new and usefulImprovements in Low-Water Alarms; andI do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being bad to theaccompanying drawing, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,forming part of this specification.

My invention consists in the improvements in low-water alarms forsteam-boilers, hereinafter set forth, and explained and illustrated inthe accompanying drawing, in which The figure shows a cross-section of asteamboiler with my improved low-water alarm in place thereon, a portionof the device being shown in section.

The objects of my invention are to construct a low-water alarm forsteam-boilers with a dry-steam passage to the alarm-Whistle and to sosimplify the mechanism of the device as to do away with the lost motionincident to the compound-lever mechanism ordinarily provided foroperating the alarm-whistle, and also adapt the whistle to be operatedeither by the operation of the expansion mechanism or by moving thewhistle-valve lever by hand.

In the construction of my device shown, A is the shell of asteam-boiler, and a; w the low-water line thereof. In the top of theboiler-shell A, preferably near the front end thereof, I secure theshell B by means of the screw-thread Z), which fits into thescrewthreaded opening in the boiler. The upper end of this shell B isprovided with a sleeveextension 0, which is internally screwthreadedfrom end to end. In the lower portion of the sleeve 0, I secure a shortsection of pipe D, which extends down through the shell B into theboiler to the low-water line 00 0c, and in the upper portion of thesleeve 0, I secure an expansion-pipe E, which extends upward somedistance andis provided with a cap F, its upper end having an ear f onone side thereof.

In the side of the shell B and communicating with the chamber therein issecured an elbow G, which opens upward, into which elbow a nipple H isscrewed, which nipple communicates with and supports a steamwhistle I,the valve mechanism of which is of usual and ordinary construction.

In the whistle-valve lever J, a short distance outside of the pintle 71,upon whichthe lever J oscillates, I make a vertical slot j, and in thisslotj, I insert the hook Z on the lower end of a rod L,which extendstherefrom upward and through an opening in the ear f in the cap F, theupper end of the rod L being screw-threaded and provided with adjustingnuts g g, by means whereof the length of the rod L between the earf and the slotj in the Whistle-valve lever J can be so adjusted as totake up all lost motion and cause a slight expansion of the pipe E toraise the lever J and open the whistle-valve. The object of insertingthe hook l on the lower end of the rod L in a slot j in thewhistle-valve lever J is to permit the raising of the lever J by hand,the hook Z on the lower end of the rodL passing downward in the slot jduring this operation, thus adapting the whistle to be operated eitherby the expansion mechanism as a lowwater alarm, or by hand for ordinarypurposes for which whistles in shops are used.

In operating as a low-water alarm, when the water in the boiler is abovethe line 00 0c and the lower end of the pipe D, the pipe D and theexpansion-pipe E are filled with comparatively cold water; but as soonas the water in the boiler falls below the lower end of the pipe D thewater in the pipes D and E drains into the boiler and hot steam takesits place,

-which rapidly heats the expansion-pipeE,

which operates by means of the connectingrod L to raise thewhistle-valve lever J and open the whistle-valve, when dry steam passesfrom the upper portion of the boiler and the chamber in the shell B tothe whistle, thereby operating it to sound an alarm, which alarmcontinues to sound until the water in the boiler is raised above thelower end of the pipe D, when the steam in the expansionpipe E sooncondenses and its place is filled with water, which soon cools, causingthe pipe E to contract, thereby releasing the valvelever J, which thenoperates by its weight to close the whistle-valve, this alarm operatin gautomatically, as described, whenever the water in the boiler fallsbelow the lower end of the pipe D.

I am aware of the patents of Bradford, No. 113,843, dated April 18,1877. Therefore I do not claim, broadly, the. feature of separatepassages from the boiler to the expansionpipe and to the alarm-whistle,as a device of this character is shown in that patent; but

lVhat I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is-

1. The combination, in a low-water alarm, of a whistle I, having adownwardly-projecting valve-lever J, provided with a slotwith theexpansion-pipe E and adjustable rod L,

extending from the slotj in the whistle-valve leverJ to the ear f on theexpansion-pipe cap HENRY SIMS.

Witnesses:

II. M. STURGEON, H. J. CURTZE.

